A Little Upset
by Babelvr54
Summary: What if her rock disappeared? Who would she run to? Babe story as always. In progress right now. Please read and review


**A Little Upset**

A mop of brunette hair could be seen by the camera as she exited her latest POS. This wouldn't be of concern on any normal day, but today, the camera could clearly place dried tears and red rimmed eyes. Every man in the control room sat a little bit straighter as they thought of the reasons she could be crying. Stephanie Plum was after all a strong willed woman, if something could make her cry, every man here would do his darnest to make it go away. No matter the price.

She headed out of the elevator and straight to the boss' office. The entire floor breathed a sigh of relief. They knew how much their boss loved the girl and surely there wasn't really any problem on the face of this earth that their boss couldn't solve. All the badass ex-military men relaxed and focused back onto their work.

Ranger Manoso had been watching the progress of the brunette headed woman making her way to his office. He was startled when he saw the hint of tears on her beautiful face, the trembling lip almost made him jump out of his wheely chair and race down the hallway. His military experience was really tested as he tried to wait in patience to find out what had the normally carefree woman in such a condition.

There was a gentle knock on his door and Ranger rushed to open it. He instantly knew it was her, because working amongst ex-military men usually meant that the heavy maple reinforced door was hammered at regularly (and had already been replaced three times). He pulled her into the privacy of his office in askance of her tears. He would prefer being in the middle of a guerrilla warfare than see a single tear (unless it was from happiness) on her beautiful face.

She dove into him and started earnestly sobbing into his chest. He held her tightly and wondered what had her in such a state.

"Babe?" He knew that he was bad with words but right now he could smack himself.

She whimpered slightly as he backed himself into the couch and pulled her onto his lap. It took a little bit of time, but her sobs subsided and her tears dried. He felt her relax as she fell asleep.

He held her tighter as he went through all the things which could've gone wrong – maybe she lost another car? Or she could've broken up with the cop – again – but that wouldn't warrant such a violent reaction. Maybe something happened to her parents or grandma – but they had everyone in her family on alert, if something had happened, he would've been notified immediately. Her apartment – no, it's been destroyed plenty of times and she's almost six months ahead on her rent. He wracked his brain for something, but couldn't find anything. He would just have to be patient… he didn't mind in this case because he got to hold her close to him and breathe her in. He hadn't been able to visit her lately because of late takedowns. He was glad she came to him or he would've broken into her place tonight.

He felt her breathing change and that pulled him out of his thoughts. She twisted a little in his arms and pressed kisses against his chest. Then she seemed to wake up and popped one eye open, then another. She looked a little bit confused, but then everything came back to her and her bottom lip trembled again.

"R – r – rex won't wake up" she let out before the tears started streaming again.

"Oh babe! I'm so sorry." He hugged her close again. She tightened her own arms around him and let out muffled sobs. He let her cry a little bit more before picking her up in his arms, bridal style, and heading out of his office to his apartment on seven.

The men on the floor looked curiously as the brunette package in his arms seemed slightly less sad than when she'd arrived and they all let out a sigh of relief. There would no doubt be flowers and chocolates and doughnuts arriving at her place tomorrow morning.

On the seventh floor they had dinner, Ella had already started planning a pineapple upside down cake the moment she heard about an upset Stephanie. Stephanie fell asleep on the sofa after dessert and found herself in a bed the next morning.

She really did love her little hamster, he was there for her when no one was. He listened to her without judgement. He made her feel better whenever she was sad. He'd never, in all the years, ever bit her. If one of her nieces, or grandma tried to pick him up, he would bite them (never break skin).

Steph remembered when one of her stalkers had broken into her apartment and tried to steal Rex, he bit his hard enough to bleed and even infect the wound. Now he was gone from her life, forever. He was the only constant in her life. Her rock, whom she could depend on to love her unconditionally.

Ranger was already down in his office trying to get through the paperwork when Stephanie came down. She entered his office, kissed the side of his cheek, and quietly left.

A/N: Hey guys I think I need a beta… I don't write too often, but sometimes it's nice to write and get instant feedback… So if anyone's interested, send me a message. Hope you like thins chapter, my holidays are coming soon so I will hopefully finish this story within 2 months. Thank you for reading.


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